The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-08-18
A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT.

Herald was presented with 500 by his as
sociates
A HORRIBLE ACCIDENT.
One Hundred Exeursionists Hurled Into
Eternity-As Many More Wounded.
An excursion train, composed of 10 cars
and two engines, bound for Niagara Falls
from Peoria, H., went through bridge near
Chatsworth, ILL., OF the 1000 passengers over
100 were instantly killed and as many more
wounded. The scenes defy description. The
accident no sooner occurred than band of
brutes began robbing the corpses They are
supposed to be the pickpockets, ETC., who ac-
companied the excursion. The engineer of
the second engine had his head cut cleanly
off.
81 was reused" said passenger, "by tn.
smashing of glass and the breaking of car
timbers and by shrieks of pain and cries for
help. Our car had been telescoped and was
standing nearly on end, one end being 25
feet in the air. Ibroke a window and man
aged to slide down the side. Others of our
party did the same; the car was a sight; the
top parted the sides crushed in. At the time
of the accident there were 50 in
the car Six of us got out
alive. 1t was horrible There were
hardly any lights to be had. There was no
water. The cars caught fire. Willow switches
and earth were used to put the flames out
with. saw most pathetic sights, parents
carrying dead children i'll their arms chill
dren clamoring for their parents, wounded
persons crawling painfully into the adjacent
cornfelds, and cries for water and for help
prevailing on all sides. A woman sitting in
front of me had her head taken off. Six
young men from Canton in the front car were
saved by being thrown by the shock through
tine parted roof
One of the horrible sights was man wei
dressed, who was so badly injured that his
bowels were protruding. He called inces-
sanity for water, and as he could not be at
tended to, he finally pulled out his revolver
and shot himself through the head
One little boy, the son of a Methods.
minister was found on the bosom of his dead
mother His left leg hung by the skin, his
right arm was broken and one eye was put
out. He never uttered groan. They
pulled him out and tried to give him
to take IT, and said, "Give me water. y
One incident of the accident stood out more
horrible than all of those horrible scenes. In
the second coach was man, his wife and
little child. His name could not be learned,
but it is said he got on at Peoria. When the
accident occurred, the entire family of three
was caught and held down by broken wood
work. Finally. when relief came, the man
turned to the friend and feebly said
"Take out my wife first; I'm afraid the
child is dead"
So they carried out the mother, and as q
broken seat was taken from her breast, the
blood which welled from her lips told how
badly she was hurt, They carried the child
fair haired, blueeyed girl of 3, and laid
her in the corn field, dead, alongside of her
dying mother Then they went back for the
father and brought him out. Both his legs
were broken, but he crawled through the
corn to the side of his wife, and, feeling her
loved features in the darkness, pressed some
brandy to her lips and asked her how she
felt. A feeble groan was the only answer
and the next instant she died. The man fell
the forms of his dead wife and child, and
cried out: "My God, there is nothing more
for me to live for now,n and taking pisto
out of his pocket, pulled the trigger. The
bullet went through his brain, and the three
dead bodies of that little family were lying
side by side waiting to be identified.
The belief steadily gains ground that the
accident was caused by robbers. While it is
hard to credit human beings, however de
PRAYED, with such fiendish motives, yet The
wholesale plumber INDUCED in by the brute
theory. The band was doubtless organized
as pile of 16 empty purses might indicate
Efforts are being made to fix the response
sibility. There is every evidence that as fal
as the road is concerned the bridge and tract
were all right The last train before the i'll
| fated excursion, passed the bridge at p. m
| An hour or SO later an order was received ant
executed regarding inspecting track ant
| bridge in view of the heavy train coming. TIL
| frni xx-oc hor, md n hal w of
| ample time for the execution of the devilish &C
if it had been planned. The list Of dead ant
wounded is appalling, and the most of then
are residents of Peoria, ILL.,, and points to tn
| west of that city.
A gentleman, in commenting on the actiol
taken by the road in helping the wounded
| has been pretty generally condemned 1t
| reported that the wounded and dying wer
left on the ground all night in hard rain
with no relief except what they could obtail
from each other. The investigation was re
| sumed in Peoria, H., at the company's office
Under the laws of Illinois, if the road
found responsible for the accident, the claim
on the dead will, it is said, be $3.50, 600, am
of the injured $3.50, 900 more. The road onl
ment on July of the present year, and thi
demand on the treasury means bankruptcy
if they have to pay for it. 1t is asserted tina
the road is realizing from. S10,0 900 to SIS, 0C
per month. Under the circumstances tn
road will probably fight every claim.
As light begins to shed on all points beai
ing on the accident the facts assume differ
emit aspect It is asserted that instead of til
fire being caused by robbers it was ignited b
the fires of the section hands, who neglecte
to extinguish them, when they quit work i
the evening. The robbery theory seems I
credited by but few in the vicinity Of the az
cident outside the officials of the road. Ii
deed, it is asserted that several watches an
jewelry, supposed to have been stolen, ha,
been found in the debris.
A dispatch from Champaign, ILL.,, says:
o. Baker, president of the Illinois Society
Engineers and professor of civil engineerir
in the university of Illinois, after caref,
personal examination of engineering pro
lens of the Chatsworth disaster, says:
''The incendiary theory has no found
ton whatever. ! am unable personally
find any citizens of Chatsworth who ha'
seen suspicious characters lettering about,
required by that theory. The flames of IL
burning culvert were plainly seen fro
Chatsworth at intervals for several hou
before the accident From the lay
land they must have risen five or six fe
above the track to have been seen so ia
The culvert itself was of the usual build, al
abundant strength to carry the train, but f
the fire, which had destroyed the lower DC
tion.p He added that he thought it probat
the fire left by the section men late in the 9
ternoon, who, by their own testimony, a
mitted that there was burning grass only
rods away, was driven down to the culve
when they left by slight change of win
, Otherwise, it is possible that sparks from
special train Of the superintendent of bridg,
the last train before the fatal excursio
llindled in the grass near the culvert. al
burned slowly for long time, aud final
fred the culvert.
The Washington Sentinel says: ''Prohit